It's not just that the new plastic can encourage you to spend. Having too many cards can hurt your credit score. Credit-lending institutions will look at the total amount of credit you have available to you. If you have 10 credit card accounts, and you have a $5,000 credit line in each account, then that will amount to a total of $50,000 in potential debt. Lenders will take a look at this potential debt load – as if you were to go out and max all your cards tomorrow – before considering how much they will lend you. They also worry about whether you will be able to meet your financial obligations.
The Capital One® Secured Mastercard® is another option for those who want to strengthen their credit score. This card offers a potentially lower minimum security deposit than other cards, starting as low as $49, based on creditworthiness. Be aware the lower deposit is not guaranteed and you may be required to deposit $99 or $200. You can deposit more before your account opens and get a maximum credit limit of $1,000.
What can and DOES change is whether you have a collector pursuing you for the debt. If you are talking about a dormant account that has been in collections and has finally been left alone with no collections activity for a few years, messing with it can be problematic from the point of view that the collections people will start pestering you again to see if they can get money and if the SOL isn't up, they can start reporting on it again which can affect your score or they could even file suit if your state SOL isn't up.
Besides imposing no annual fee, the card has other perks, like rewarding me with a $20 statement credit when I reported a good GPA (up to 5 consecutive years), letting me earn 5 percent cash back on purchases in rotating categories, and matching the cash-back bonus I earned over the first 12 months with my account. For me, it was a great starter card, but there are plenty of other options out there.
If you are unable to get a credit card, consider applying for a secured credit card instead. You need to provide a deposit, and you will be given a credit limit that is tied to your deposit amount. A secured credit card is reported to the credit bureau and can help you build your credit score. You can shop for the best secured cards at sites like MagnifyMoney and NerdWallet.
You cannot pay down your debt on your own and you continue falling further and further behind. “It makes sense to file bankruptcy when you can no longer keep up with your bills,” said Leslie H. Tayne, a debt resolution attorney and founder of Tayne Law Group, based in Melville, N.Y. “If commercial creditors are breathing down your neck or if you are in danger of losing your home, it may then make sense to file bankruptcy.”
A good credit repair company will first pull your credit reports from each of the three major credit reporting agencies to pinpoint your credit issues. Why all three? Because each credit reporting agency has its own “data furnishers” (aka lenders, credit card companies, debt collectors, etc.), who report your credit information to them. And there may be errors that appear on one of your credit reports, but don’t appear on the others

When weighing whether borrowing from your workplace retirement plan makes sense, keep in mind that if you leave your job—voluntarily or not—you typically must repay a loan within 60 days. If you don't get it paid off in time, the loan morphs into a withdrawal, and that can end up costing you plenty. If you are under 55 you will owe a 10% early withdrawal penalty, and a withdrawal from a traditional 401(k) account will also be taxed at your ordinary income tax rate.

If you have impossibly high interest on those credit cards, then do cancel them. It doesn’t help to have open credit cards if the interest rate makes it nearly impossible for you to get the balance down. In fact, banks currently have hardship programs, where they will reduce your interest rate TO ZERO if you agree that they will cancel your cards. Yes, you wll take an immediate hit on your credit score, but that will quickly improve as you pay down your credit cards, which you can now do because you don’t have those usurious interest rates to pay.
Besides the security deposit, a secured card is just like a regular credit card. Purchases and payments your teen makes with their secured card are reported to the three credit bureaus — TransUnion, Equifax and Experian. You can check that your teen’s credit activity is reported to the bureaus by requesting a copy of their free credit report at annualcreditreport.com. You can request one report from each bureau every 12 months, and we recommend spacing them out over the course of a year — so requesting one copy every four months.
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), a federal law that was passed in 1978, provides guidelines on the actions that debt collectors can take when they try to get consumers to make payments on their debts. It prohibits abusive, deceptive or unfair practices and puts limits on when and how third-party debt collectors can contact people who owe money.
Taking out a loan to pay off debt is counter-intuitive, right? Especially when taking on a new loan requires hefty fees, rolled into your total balance, or a long repayment period. The InCharge Debt Consolidation Alternative, or debt management plan, is a program that gives you all of the benefits of debt consolidation without having to take out a new loan. With the debt management program, all of your payments are consolidated into one monthly payment that you pay to InCharge. InCharge then pays each of your creditors. InCharge helps you secure lower interest rates on many of the credit cards you do have (with exceptions), meaning that more of your monthly payment will go to pay off the balance, and less to interest. This will help you pay off your debt faster. The InCharge debt management plan is designed to help you get out of debt in 3-5 years, paying less than you would if you continued on your own, or even with traditional debt consolidation with higher interest rates.

A HELOC typically charges a variable interest rate tied to a benchmark such as Prime Lending Rate. You only owe interest when you tap (use) your credit line. A HELOC often has a 10-year "draw" period when you can borrow against it, before you must start repayment. A HEL is typically a fixed-rate loan with a set payback period of five to 10 years or so.

A major driver of increased scores is the decreased proportion of consumers with collection items on their credit report. A credit item that falls into collections will stay on a person’s credit report for seven years. People caught in the latter end of the real estate foreclosure crisis of 2006-2011 may still have a collections item on their report today.
Otherwise, the advice you have given is great and works well for a quick boost but having the ability to remove lines of information from your credit history is even better because once it is gone, it can no longer affect your score. BTW - don't take my word or anyone elses for that matter, educate yourself! You can find either of the sources I mentioned just by Googling either of them if you want and I promise you, the more information you have, the better!

Unsurprisingly, consumers across the southern United States are far more likely to have subprime credit scores than consumers across the north. Minnesota had the fewest subprime consumers. In December 2016, just 21.9% of residents fell below an Equifax Risk Score of 660. Mississippi had the worst subprime rate in the nation: 48.3% of Mississippi residents had credit scores below 660 in December 2016.35

I know this post is nearly three years old but I was desperately trying to figure out how to raise my credit score a little faster than usual. I would just like to say that everything he posted I tried and it worked for me. I have raised my score 50 points in just one month! I still have a long way to go, but now that I know what to do, I see it only going up from here.

A secured credit card, in particular, is the ideal tool for rebuilding credit. They offer nearly guaranteed approval because you’ll need to place a security deposit that will double as your spending limit. Secured cards are also far less expensive than unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit. And you can’t tell them apart from unsecured cards on a credit report.

Shopping for a private student loan, comparing the pros and cons of different lenders, and submitting multiple applications so you can accept the loan with the best terms is generally a good idea. Hard inquiries usually only have a small impact on credit scores, and scores often return to their pre-inquiry level within a few months, as long as no new negative information winds up on your credit reports.
This is easier said than done, but reducing the amount that you owe is going to be a far more satisfying achievement than improving your credit score. The first thing you need to do is stop using your credit cards. Use your credit report to make a list of all of your accounts and then go online or check recent statements to determine how much you owe on each account and what interest rate they are charging you. Come up with a payment plan that puts most of your available budget for debt payments towards the highest interest cards first, while maintaining minimum payments on your other accounts.
Chapter 13 bankruptcy requires a $235 case filing fee and a $75 miscellaneous administrative fee, plus attorney costs. Chapter 7 bankruptcy comes with a $245 case filing fee, a $75 miscellaneous administrative fee and a $15 trustee charge, as well as attorney charges. With both types of bankruptcy, you are also required to pay for two credit counseling sessions that cost $50 to $100 each.
Unfortunately, some credit blunders may be out of your hands. Unfairly reported or inaccurate information can plague an otherwise clean credit score. Protect yourself by staying up-to-date. Order a free copy of your credit report and review its contents. Check to verify your correct name, address, and other basic information. Look closely at your accounts to make sure your balances are accurate and there is no duplicate reporting. If you need help, contact one of our legal experts for a free credit repair consultation and analysis. False reporting is illegal, and your credit health depends on action.
Aside from all things finances, lenders and agencies will also consider your living history. While this is not typically disclosed, it’s a facet that must be taken into consideration. Are you the type of individual who moves from location to location? Have you lived in the same home for over 10-15 years? Chances are, if you are categorized in the latter, lenders will be more interested in helping you. Keep in mind, lenders are taking a deeper looking into individual characteristics and traits. An individual that continues to move may be inconsistent or risky. If you are quick to move from location to location, are you quick to spend all the credit lent to you?
Home Equity Loans and Lines of Credit: Before the 2008 financial crisis, this was one of the most common methods of consolidating credit card debt. The benefit of a home equity loan is the low interest rate and the ability to deduct the interest. However, you put your home at risk and tempt yourself with extending the term. Credit unions offer particularly low interest rates. You can visit your local credit union, or work with a national credit union like PenFed, which offers home equity loan interest rates as low as 3.74%.
A secured credit card, in particular, is the ideal tool for rebuilding credit. They offer nearly guaranteed approval because you’ll need to place a security deposit that will double as your spending limit. Secured cards are also far less expensive than unsecured credit cards for people with bad credit. And you can’t tell them apart from unsecured cards on a credit report.

Next, estimate your monthly spending habits for other expenses such as gas, groceries and entertainment. Create a limit, based on your income, of what you can spend in each of the different categories of expenses. For example, if you tend to spend $400 a month on groceries, try to stick to $300 a month on groceries by making changes like buying generic brands, using coupons, and resisting impulse purchases.